Men's Lacrosse: Terps Topple Virginia, 12-7, in Scott Stadium

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Senior Ryan Young led the No. 10 University of Maryland men's lacrosse team with six points oon two goals and four assists, while junior Joe Cummings and sophomore John Haus each scored four goals, in the Terps' 12-7 victory over No. 4 Virginia in front of 10,545 at Scott Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Cavaliers (7-3, 0-1 ACC) drew first blood less than four minutes into the first quarter with some help from a fortunate bounce. Steele Stanwick wrapped around the left side of the Maryland goal and threw a wild shot over his shoulder. Terp redshirt freshman goalie Niko Amato got his stick on it, but the ball trickled into the net for a 1-0 Wahoo lead.

The Terps (7-2, 1-2 ACC) tied the game at the 5:30 mark when sophomore John Haus finished a nice feed to the crease by Young. Young dodged Virginia defender Scott McWilliams behind the cage and junior Drew Snider set a great pick to give Young the extra step he needed to get off a pinpoint pass to Haus for the one-timer.

Young then gave Maryland its first lead of the game on a terrific individual effort. Sophomore Jesse Bernhardt pushed the ball in transition, but Wahoo goalie Adam Ghitelman made the save. The rebound went to the Cavaliers' Matt Lovejoy, who tried to get the ball to Ghitelman behind the net for the clear. But, Young picked off the pass and scored easily into the open net with 2:16 to go in the first.

But Virginia came out shooting at the start of the second and got unassisted goals from Colin Briggs and John Haldy less than a minute apart to take a 3-2 lead with 13:16 to go in second.
The Terps looked to be in a bit of a jam at the 11:26 mark when they were assessed two non-releasable unnecessary roughness penalties. But Maryland's man-down unit proved up to the challenge and killed off the penalties.

Virginia, however, quickly built its lead to 4-2 when Rhamel Bratton hit a running left-hander from 10 yards outside the hash marks at the 9:31 mark,

Maryland got back on the board less than three minutes later thanks to its vaunted transition game. Jesse Bernhardt caused a turnover and pushed the ball into the Terps' offensive zone. Bernhardt then flipped a back-handed pass to Blye on the right wing and Blye ripped an eight-yard shot to make it a 4-3 game.

Bratton scored again to make it a 5-3 game with 5:30 left, but a penalty on McWilliams gave the Terps their first extra-man advantage and Maryland didn't let it go to waste. Blye quickly found Cummings on the crease and Cummings one-timed it into the Virginia net to cut the deficit back to a goal with 4:37 left in the second.

The Terps opened the third quarter with a nice pick-and-roll play with Haus and Young that resulted in Haus getting a feed from Young on the crease and Haus finished it inside the left pipe to tie the game at 5-5 at the 13:33 mark.

Maryland regained the lead for the first time in 17:25 on another brilliant feed from Young that was finished by Cummings. Young had the ball well behind the cage when he spotted Cummings cutting toward the goal. Young's pass hit Cummings in stride and Cummings finished with a quick shot from seven yards out.

Cummings scored his third of the game at the 4:02 mark of the third to extend the Maryland lead to 7-5. Cummings dodged from behind the cage and ducked under his defender to create some space for himself in front of the net. He then used multiple ball-fakes to make Ghitelman commit before finishing with a quick shot.

Cummings completed the natural hat trick with just six seconds left in the third when he scored another unassisted goal to make it an 8-5 Maryland lead heading into the fourth.

Maryland's offense continued to roll in the fourth with Haus finishing another score from just outside the crease. This time it was Blye picking up the assist to make it a 9-5 game.

Textbook transition offense extended the lead for the Terps at the 10:44 mark. Amato made another brilliant save and his outlet pass was just as nice, hitting Jesse Bernhardt in stride. Bernhardt then fed Blye on the right wing for a rip from six yards out.

Virginia finally broke up the Maryland scoring run on Chris Bocklett's goal at the 10:09 mark.

But the Terps refused to let the Cavaliers gain any momentum. Young's amazing day continued with a marvelous cross-field pass to Haus, who tiptoed the crease line and finished inside the far pipe to make it an 11-6 game.

Young put the finishing touches on the game for the Terps with his second goal of the game to give Maryland a 12-6 lead at the 2:58 mark.

Virginia tacked on a late extra-man goal by Bocklett to make it a 12-7 final.

Maryland's defensive effort was spotlighted by 12 saves from Amato. Senior long pole Brian Farrell was solid with four groundballs, while the close defense unit of seniors Ryder Bohlander, Brett Schmidt and Max Schmidt held the Virginia attackmen Stanwick, Bocklett and Nick O'Reilly to just three goals, with two of those coming late in the fourth quarter.

Another major contributor for the Terps was sophomoe face-off man Curtis Holmes, who won 14-of-22 face-offs and had a team-leading five groundballs.

Maryland returns to action on Friday night in Annapolis, Md., vs. Navy. The Terps and the Midshipmen are slated for a 7 p.m. start at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.